Reunion
by Sakrea
Summary: Ironhide comes home with a guest. Warnings: Spoilers for Ironhide Comics.


Not entirely happy with the tone of this one, but it got the point across I suppose.

Enjoy!

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"You know, this would be so much easier if Ironhide were here. He always knows what to do, even if he doesn't, you know what I mean?" Bluestreak said, looking at the bots at the table around him. "It's been so strange since he hasn't been here because normally he's always poking around, offering his opinion. It's too quiet without him."

"Trust me Blue, it's not too quiet." Cliffjumper muttered into his cube.

Bluestreak only sent him a questioning look before glancing around the rest of the room. "Well I suppose you're right, after all it's really loud in here. Why is the rec room always so loud? I mean we're all here right now, but it's still not a lot of mechs."

Cliffjumper looked about ready to toss back a sarcastic response, but Sideswipe quickly elbowed him in the side. "Well we all miss Ironhide." The larger red mech commented. "After all, all of us owe him for something or other."

"It's a shame I can't seem to recall any of those somethings."

It was strange that following the comment, the entire rec room went silent despite the fact that the mechs sitting at the table had barely heard it themselves. Maybe it had just been the presence of the bot that had silenced the room.

"Oh stop staring. It's not that big of a surprise."

"Yes. It is." Mirage said, strangely being the first to speak to the new addition.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Cliffjumper added, sounded almost as if he was offended by the fact.

"I've taken worse hits and come back, trust me." Ironhide replied, grinning.

"You've never literally come back from the dead though." Sideswipe said, optics lit brightly.

"First time for everything." Ironhide said, shrugging. "Now will you stop trying to disprove my existence when I'm standing in front of you?"

Bluestreak, silent for once, but gawking, took that moment to scoot out from around his table to gently poke Ironhide in the arm with a finger. "He's real!"

It seemed that strange confirmation was enough for the rest of the mechs in the room, because all at once, they surged to their pedes and rushed at the red mech.

"How are you alive?"

"What happened?"

"Did you go to the Well of Sparks?"

"Did it hurt?"

"You look brand new!"

"He's been to see Primus and back, someone bring him some high grade!"

Out of all of the things shouted at him at once, these were the only things that Ironhide managed to catch and he didn't bother to answer any of them. He was far too busy trying to stay upright since every mech around him was reaching out to slap him on the back, trying to push him over, or dragging him towards them in some direction.

"Everyone, calm the frag down! I'm not gonna die again unless you keep yanking me around!" Ironhide shouted over the commotion, though he was clearly amused by the attention.

In the back of the room, Optimus and Prowl were sharing a table. It is of note, that their reactions were by far the most amusing. Prowl had dropped the cube of energon he had been holding, so that was splattered across the table and his data pad was getting ready to join it, though he still had a light grip on it. Optimus was holding his cube tightly enough that it was threatening to crack and his jaw was so low behind his mask that you could almost see the tip of his nose behind it. Ironhide flashed them a grin and a wave.

"Okay, now everyone back up a few steps, will ya?" Ironhide said, peering at the crowd that was around him.

They didn't budge.

"I mean it, move back or I'll push ya myself."

The second time did it and the group managed to push back and form a lumpy semi-circle around him.

"Why do we need to move back? I mean you've never had any space problems before, right? When you die do you get scared of crowds? I think you might if there's a lot of sparks floating around and there are a lot of sparks… Did you meet anyone we used to know?" Bluestreak babbled, peering around Mirage's shoulder.

Ironhide held up a hand gently, a silent way of telling him questions were for later. "I'm not the only one who's back." He said, seeming to sober up a bit.

Once more there was a collective uproar of questions, which Ironhide silenced again with a shout. "I told him to hang back and let me come in so you mechs didn't all keel over in surprise." He explained, glancing back at the door he'd entered through.

The door opened a crack, but only one blue optic could be seen peering through. The mech behind the door was obviously nervous about making an appearance.

"Get your aft out here." Ironhide ordered.

The blue optic wavered, but the door didn't move.

"They aren't gonna bite."

The optic gave him a critical stare. "They might." It commented.

In the back of the crowd, had anyone cared to notice, Sideswipe stiffened.

"Get out here!" Ironhide snapped. "You can't hide behind a door forever."

With a heavy sigh, the door slide the rest of the way open, and Sunstreaker stepped out into the rec room.

With his entrance, every voice in the room died out, an aura of hostility spreading from the crowd. Several mechs glared, others stared in horror. Most just seemed unsure of what emotion they should convey.

Sunstreaker's head lowered, his optics locked on the floor as he stepped forward to stand behind his red partner. "Ironhide, they don't want me here."

"You're damn right we don't!"

Ironhide shot a glare into the crowd, but he wasn't sure who was responsible for the shout.

Sunstreaker glanced up at the crowd only long enough to spot his brother in the back. Their optics met and held. Had anyone cared to watch Sunstreaker with an open mind, they might have seen the look he gave his brother. His optics seemed to emanate apology, giving the mech an almost pathetic look. Sideswipe's answering look was completely neutral, promising nothing.

Sunstreaker turned his head back down to watch his feet.

"Look at him! He knows he has no right to be here!" Cliffjumper shouted.

"That's enough!" Ironhide snapped. "He has every right to be here!"

"He sold us out to the Decepticons." Wheeljack pointed out, arms crossed over his chassis.

"He did save us from the Swarm though…" Bumblebee said, looking as if he wasn't sure he should be defending the frontliner.

Sunstreaker glanced up at Bumblebee in surprise, but quickly lowered his optics when the mech next to the minibot glared at him.

"That doesn't make up for what he did though!" Blurr said from the back of the crowd.

"Give him a chance to speak."

Ironhide looked to the back of the room now. While Optimus and Prowl still seemed to be too surprised to move, he suspected the two of them had suffered a processor crash when Sunstreaker had entered, another bot had entered the room near them.

The rest of the mechs in the room turned around to find the source of the voice, seeming to quiet down. It was strange that despite this particular mech's background, he seemed to have earned a certain respect among the rest of the Autobots.

Drift stepped toward the crowd, pausing near the back. He crossed his arms across his chest and gave a look toward the two mechs in front, as if he was waiting for an explanation.

Sunstreaker looked at Ironhide, who then waved his hand at him, telling him to go ahead. The yellow mech responded with an unsure shrug, which followed by a heavy sigh from the red mech.

"I suppose it's up to me to explain exactly what happened." Ironhide muttered. One of the mechs in the crowd made an exasperated sound.

"So, it seems I was dead. Sunstreaker never died, even though you all seem to think he did." Ironhide grunted. "Did no one even think of checking that chasm to see if he was still alive?"

Only the mechs who seemed to be unwilling to be hostile just yet shifted nervously. These mechs included Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and Ratchet. The others gave a look that suggested they had purposely not checked.

Ironhide shook his head and continued. "For four years…" he paused, shooting the less-than-guilty mechs a glare. "For four years, Sunstreaker was laying under a pile of dead Swarm, beaten to all hell, but perfectly alive."

Sunstreaker winced and glanced up at Ironhide. Obviously it was not a pleasant memory for him.

"Oh, and during that entire time, his processor was running in a loop." Ironhide added. "So he's had plenty of time relive the guilt over his choice."

Bumblebee and Bluestreak exchanged horrified looks. It was plain to see they were on Sunstreaker's side now. Ratchet appeared to be trying to fathom the damage the yellow frontliner had acquired and just how in the name of Primus he had survived for that long.

Even a few of the other mechs seemed to be reconsidering their views.

"Okay, so now he's out of the chasm. How?" Red Alert asked.

"Ironhide found me and got me out." Sunstreaker said, glancing up at the security director.

This seemed to floor every mech in the room. Everyone began exchanging looks of surprise.

"But… How?" Bumblebee asked.

"This nutjob named Alpha Trion had his energy signature up on a screen and was unwilling to go get him, so I did." Ironhide explained.

Once more, an uproar of questions followed.

"You were on Cybertron?"

"Alpha Trion is still alive?"

"What do you mean nutjob?"

"What happened?"

Ironhide patiently waited, giving them all an annoyed look, until they shut up and peered at him.

"I woke up on Cybertron. Apparently Alpha Trion brought me back to life." Ironhide said, shrugging.

"But why?" Wheeljack asked, looking a bit skeptical behind his face mask.

Ironhide gave a half shrug. "Wanted me to kill the Swarm so Cybertron could regenerate."

"Then why would he waste resources saving him?" Blurr asked, jerking a thumb towards Sunstreaker.

Ironhide gave him a hard glare, but replied. "I'm tough kid, but you really think I can take out that entire mess by myself?"

Judging by the looks several bots were giving him, they thought he could.

"Well… Guys… Maybe we should give him another chance." Bumblebee suggested, pushing his way to the front of the crowd.

The mechs that were still deeply set against Sunstreaker protested immediately. Those who seemed unsure glanced around them.

"He betrayed us! Why should we ever trust him again?"

"We could try to test him…"

"What does Optimus think?"

"Just throw him out, we can't let him stay here!"

This time when the shouting escalated, Ironhide couldn't stop it. His own angry shouts were drowned out by the other mechs.

There was only one mech in the crowd that was not part of the argument. He lingered in the back and kept his eyes locked on Sunstreaker's lowered face. After several moments, he turned and walked around the edge of the crowd, at one point having to force Cliffjumper out of his path to reach the front. Ironhide threw the mech a curious look.

Sunstreaker looked up when a red pede came into his vision. "Sideswipe?"

His red twin retained that neutral look he'd had before, but set a hand on his yellow brother's shoulder. "Let's get out of here. They aren't going to come to a rational decision at least until Optimus reboots again."

The yellow frontliner gave him a confused look, but he turned when he was gently pushed toward the door he had come in through. "Where are we going?"

"The last time last time we were on assignment together, we shared a room." Sideswipe explained stepping through the door after him.

Neither noticed the hush that had fallen over the room behind them. The others had finally noticed Sideswipe's decision. Those opposed to the yellow twins return had been shocked into silence so the only sound in the room was Ironhide's soft chuckling.

"Thanks Sideswipe…"

The red twin gave him a small smile and steered him down the hallway. "No problem." He said. "It's good to have you back Sunny."


End file.
